Went out riding with my son this morning... Was rather sedate so I thought a race this afternoon would be a good idea. Only race on was a Cat 1-4 combined race before the Open race. Not much to report... Sat in the bunch, I am only a Cat3 with my FFC license, thought I would sprint if I got the chance. Found it pretty easy but no one was getting away... About 50 in the peloton. The climbs were easy which is saying something for me!. Last lap I was siting in about 10th wheel about 1500m out when there was a huge pile up next to me. Actually got hit pretty hard but didn't come close to coming down... Others weren't so lucky. Lost my position though and just rolled it in for 20th place... Turned out there was only 2 of us Cat 3's in there and he beat me by .7 of a second... Problem is there is no difference in the numbers so you don't know who you are racing against! Anyway good training... Although never really suffered, just felt like a hard group ride... Except when someone in front dropped a wheel!.56km 40,5 av ... The race after was 120km at 44 av ...that would have been more fun!.

absolutely wrecked for this race. have been so flat out with life in general the last week or two that i'm just too exhausted to sustain the 350-400km weeks i've done. so no surprise that i was hanging on for dear life again.

the Kyneton-Pastoria loop is hilly, with a killer (well, it was for me) bump near the finish line. the first lap was the fastest - a couple of HCC clubmates got away at some point in a group of ~4 - to be honest i was suffering so much at the back i didn't see when. i went off the back on this climb and got back onto the main (2nd?) bunch quickly enough. 1000 VAM up the climb isn't hanging around for me, but i should be able to do better. it gradually slowed down, i thought as everyone got tired but in hindsight - i think as the break disappeared from view.

by the last (of 4) lap(s) i was feeling a bit better - the pace had slowed by then - and gave it everything up the final climb. my slowest of the 4 ascents.. (a measly 930 VAM) i finished about 15th or so i guess. i'm actually encouraged by this, as i know how tired i was and how much better i can ride... bring on the Sam Miranda next weekend..

i still don't have proper form yet, so entering a state series race, albeit C grade, was a bit ambitious. it started out real easy for the first 30 km, then we started hitting the climbs and on the 3rd hill i unhinged from the main bunch. there was a group of 4 up ahead and i was going full steam downhill to catch back on. there was a 90 deg. RHer coming up and never one to shy away from a cornering challenge, i thought this was my chance to bridge. as it happened, the corner was off-camber and then dipped sharply after the apex. i knew i was in trouble but fully committed at 45-50km/h there wasn't much i could do. i slid into a ditch and am now watching Australia's Got Talent in Wangaratta Hospital, sans a fair bit of skin

It was great to be there early for the slow gathering of the crowd and the gradual build-up of banter and nerves. Coota was looking beautiful. The surrounding hills were emerald green, and the sky was lightening slowly as the cool, soft breeze dried the roads of the previous night's drizzle.

I prevaricated over wheel choice and whether to warm up on the trainer or the road. Michael, Ed and Alain persuaded me of the latter, so we set out to get the blood pumping and steady the nerves. We cruised up and over the nearby hill which was to feature twice in the race, the second time on the run-in to the finishing sprint.

Soon enough, we were on the line getting a few simple instructions. A good bunch of 15, which seemed to have potential for effective collaboration, at least to the big hill at 27k, which I thought would determine the race for many of us early starters.

We lived up to our promise for the first 10k or so, laying down a steady, rhythmical beat of a little over 40kmh along the fairly flat opening stanza. Everyone was working well, and I tried to encourage the bunch and to get everyone to slow a bit over the first short hill, to ensure we stayed together. It was working really well, until we turned back to the north and to the beginning of a long false flat leading to the big hill.

As we proceeded, riders started to struggle, and the number of people pulling turns slowly dwindled. I had a few breaks myself, as I was feeling the pace, and I wanted to still be with the group when we reached the hill that lay in wait. I realised that Michael and Stephen, and perhaps a few others, were no longer with us.

Then came the right-hand turn and the long sweep of Cullinga Hill rising ahead to the left. Mikesbytes drew alongside and asked me how I was going. The answer was, "getting tired". It was good to get Mike's encouragement, and it buoyed me as we started out on the early, relatively easy climbing, where I was keeping up, albeit at the back of the now diminished bunch.

As the gradient increased after the first k, I was starting to have doubts, and soon found that I and two others were separated from Mike and the other half dozen or so at the front. They crested perhaps 50 or 100m ahead of me. There was a bigger bloke from Goulburn a bit closer to me, so I pinned my hopes on catching him before the crest. Alas, it was not to be, and as I struggled over the last few steeper metres and reached the sight of the road falling steeply down, I was dismayed to see they'd all regrouped and were rapidly approaching the bottom.

I tucked in and did what I could to make the most of the unimpeded drop, and then eased carefully around the 90 degree left hander at the bottom and gave it everything I had as the road again started to rise ahead, albeit for only a couple of hundred metres. This time I seemed to be gaining and for a while optimism surged. The follow car was almost within reach and I started to think that if it was good enough for Tour riders to do a bit of drafting, it'd be good enough for me.

Unfortunately that was when my day was done. Cramps suddenly arrived in both calves, and nothing I tried would get rid of them. I watched the follow car slowly draw away through the trees, its lights reminding me of that sad old Robert Johnson and Rolling Stones blues song, Love in Vain. "When the train it left the station, there was two lights on behind. Well, the blue light was my baby, and the red light was my mind."

Love in vain, indeed. That was me alright. I could look, but I could not touch.

The next stanza passed by in a sequence of briefly encouraging but ultimately futile attempts to hook onto the faster bunches as they came by, until I accepted my fate when the scratchies passed after about 50k. I found good company to join in my lament, and decided against doing the final, half lap when I arrived at the alternative of pulling out at first pass of the finish line. Michael joined me there soon afterwards, and we got some warm clothes on, grabbed a bite and a cup of tea, and took up our spots to await the finale.

In a little while, they came thundering down the straight. There was a red rider out in front with perhaps 150 left, but he was soon gobbled up by the marauding pack of 20 or 30 strong. They were not singing the blues but one of its more uptempo descendants, all thunder and lightening. Fast and furious stadium rock, perhaps. Or metal, with its insistent urgency. The St George/Skoda team were there in force, and one of their number, Nick Yallouris, hurtled across the line to join the long list of winners which, according to the program, date back to the legendary Jim Bundy in 1957. Rocking, Nick!

It was good to see a few more seasoned players in the final mix as well. Inspiring and daunting. You're never too old to play; you just have to pick the right tune for the day. Or maybe accept that it's like jazz, and be open to improvisation. I'll keep that in mind, next time.

Good report MREJ .Quickie for me... Lined up with 35 others in a "pass cyclisme" race... Grades 1-4 combined, grade 3 for me, only 5 of us, I never understand these races as grades 3&4 are supposed to do one lap less... But we never do, which is fine but we all wear the same numbers so we don't know who's in what grade. Any way we lined up for 62kms or 10 laps. I knew it would be interesting, not because of the climbs, or the gravel roads... But because we were lining up to start 2 minutes behind the Open Cat 2, 3 & Junior race... Which included ex junior world champs in various disciplines, a could of national under 23 teams and the UCI junior development squad had come over the border... There was never a chance that they wouldn't lap us by the end... And as the roads were very narrow and rough it would be near impossible!.Anyway up until 3 laps to go it was pretty uneventful... Then we got lapped and there was no separating the two bunches... Their race with 100 entrants and double our distance. Was quite good fun rolling with them for 20 minutes, the pace went up a fair bit but it was easy in a big bunch. Wasn't good racing though... Didn't bother sprinting too hard as it was too much of a mess... Finished 12th and 2nd in my grade. All good training 62km Av 39.4kmph

Did the graded TT on Saturday, 30km, first event in a looong time, but despite no real training in months I put out 349W avg/354W NP/357W CP60 (estimated). I've put on ~ 5Kg since Feb (reduced exercise mainly, cutting food intake back hasn't been very effective ), so I've effectively dropped from 4W/Kg to 3.6W/Kg - and it was really noticeable as I was trading places with one of the A graders who I could pull back on the flats and descents, but left me for dead on the climbs.

Anyway : 1'st in B, and I would have been 5'th in A, but only 1'st, 2'nd and 5'th were on TT bikes. Then again it wasn't TT bike friendly conditions - a nice 20+kph gusty side wind with a 60mm front meant I wasn't able to stay on the aero bars for some of the faster sections, I nearly had the base bar pulled out of my hands for one gust.

And congrats to MrGolf who came 3'rd (first road bike) and beat me by 16 seconds... with two broken ribs.

Quick question... Can I get a one day license still in oz?... ie: can I turn up at waratahs on the 29th of December and jump in B grade for a blast from the past... On my 1980's Cinelli that is sitting in a mates garage.

toolonglegs wrote:Quick question... Can I get a one day license still in oz?... ie: can I turn up at waratahs on the 29th of December and jump in B grade for a blast from the past... On my 1980's Cinelli that is sitting in a mates garage.

Landsdowne is my least favourite track, I have raced there like 4-5 times now and my best result is a 3rd. I am finding myself this year not winning races (or placing) and being happy with my performance, yet to decide if its a good thing or a bad thing.

toolonglegs wrote:Quick question... Can I get a one day license still in oz?

NSCC have just started doing 1 day licences for beauie so if there happens to be a race on when you're here come up to beauie worlds! MWCC also do day licences for their monthly west head road race (2nd Sunday of every month).

Raced Beauies world many times ... I am not a hot dog man .Waratahs are good because they race every Sunday through out the year ... plus I will stay with a mate who lives close by and be good to have a race with him. Will only be in Sydney for 4 days ... already told my lovely wife I am racing on the 29th ... I won't repeat her words .Arranging flights has been a nightmare, we have to leave on the 1st of Jan at 6am ... add another day to that date and the flights go up 3000 euros .Looking forward to getting back to NZ... my little town of Cambridge is now the center of NZ cycling ... gazillion dollar indoor velodrome going in etc. Only 30 years too late for me... but good to see.Should be some good KOM's around .

So after a dropping a chain a few weeks ago, to slogging it out in some 30km/hr+ winds the past few races have been less than great. This weeks race was a graded teams race, so pre-race meet up with my three other team mates and we discuss our strengths and I put my hand up to contest the sprint, with another rider setting the pace and the other two to get into a break/ float around. The overall pace of the race wasn't very quick with a few small attempts at breaks but they never really had a solid go off it. With the rest of my team either sitting in the break or taking turns at the front I was able to sit on and roll around.

We round the finale corner and I had picked the wheel of a now recently C grade rider who was back in D grade for this race with his team. As the sprint was forming I was worried that I was going to be boxed in however it opened up and the C graded jump from 300m to go, and I'm right there beside him were both holding neck and neck but finally I pull just ahead of him over the line. Final sprint speed was 57.6km/h, which is about a 1km/h quicker than my previous best.

twizzle wrote:Did the graded TT on Saturday, 30km, first event in a looong time, but despite no real training in months I put out 349W avg/354W NP/357W CP60 (estimated). I've put on ~ 5Kg since Feb (reduced exercise mainly, cutting food intake back hasn't been very effective ), so I've effectively dropped from 4W/Kg to 3.6W/Kg - and it was really noticeable as I was trading places with one of the A graders who I could pull back on the flats and descents, but left me for dead on the climbs.

Anyway : 1'st in B, and I would have been 5'th in A, but only 1'st, 2'nd and 5'th were on TT bikes. Then again it wasn't TT bike friendly conditions - a nice 20+kph gusty side wind with a 60mm front meant I wasn't able to stay on the aero bars for some of the faster sections, I nearly had the base bar pulled out of my hands for one gust.

And congrats to MrGolf who came 3'rd (first road bike) and beat me by 16 seconds... with two broken ribs.

Cheers, Twiz. God, that was hard work. Us lightweights were getting thoroughly smashed coming down to the bottom turn. With the 45mm tubs, I was getting blown all over the road. Fortunately coming back up the false flat we got a massive boost. I reckon the gusts were up over 45kmh. Intense. I reckon my uphill legs were faster than the down hill legs. Now considering a more aero helmet and clip on bars.

toolonglegs wrote:Quick question... Can I get a one day license still in oz?... ie: can I turn up at waratahs on the 29th of December and jump in B grade for a blast from the past... On my 1980's Cinelli that is sitting in a mates garage.

twizzle wrote:Did the graded TT on Saturday, 30km, first event in a looong time, but despite no real training in months I put out 349W avg/354W NP/357W CP60 (estimated). I've put on ~ 5Kg since Feb (reduced exercise mainly, cutting food intake back hasn't been very effective ), so I've effectively dropped from 4W/Kg to 3.6W/Kg - and it was really noticeable as I was trading places with one of the A graders who I could pull back on the flats and descents, but left me for dead on the climbs.

Anyway : 1'st in B, and I would have been 5'th in A, but only 1'st, 2'nd and 5'th were on TT bikes. Then again it wasn't TT bike friendly conditions - a nice 20+kph gusty side wind with a 60mm front meant I wasn't able to stay on the aero bars for some of the faster sections, I nearly had the base bar pulled out of my hands for one gust.

And congrats to MrGolf who came 3'rd (first road bike) and beat me by 16 seconds... with two broken ribs.

Cheers, Twiz. God, that was hard work. Us lightweights were getting thoroughly smashed coming down to the bottom turn. With the 45mm tubs, I was getting blown all over the road. Fortunately coming back up the false flat we got a massive boost. I reckon the gusts were up over 45kmh. Intense. I reckon my uphill legs were faster than the down hill legs. Now considering a more aero helmet and clip on bars.

Yeah I thought I ws going OK until I looked at the results and see I was beaten by a couch potato on an alloy frame BSO and a guy with broken ribs on a road bike.

Who is online

About the Australian Cycling Forums

The largest cycling discussion forum in Australia for all things bike; from new riders to seasoned bike nuts, the Australian Cycling Forums are a welcoming community where you can ask questions and talk about the type of bikes and cycling topics you like.